We don’t have a current picture of our editor in every edition of Carefree Cooking Magazine as some food magazines do. But here she is recently in the culinary capital of the country in Yountville, California (think Thomas Keller’s French Laundry restaurant and Michael Chiarello’s Napa Style), doing important culinary research like eating her way through the valley, for informational purposes, of course.

Gail Greco really does go to bistros to find out what people are talking about when it comes to food, and that material serves as inspiration for this column. Getting inspiration for the November issue online while in Napa County, she toted home crusty fougasse bread and a few croissants from the bakery of one of the nation’s other top restaurants, Bouchon (Keller’s bistro version).

See what she has to say next month about bread for the Thanksgiving table that looks like the bark of a tree.